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Topic: pills (Read 1846 times)

My first attempt at making them was something to see. I had bees wax and paraffin along with some corn oil. I bought a used 9" round pan from the Goodwill store. Did a little math and came out with 63 sq. inches - a bit smaller than the 77 Gatofeo had. Measured out a bit less [ 3oz by weight , not 3 1/4 ] material twice and put it in two coffee mugs. I put the pan on the stove with some water and one mug in it. I thought well, I can speed this up and turned the burner off and put the mug in the micro wave. Also figured with the water cold the mixture would cool faster. Yea, right. I ended up with a thick lump about 3" in diameter. Ok, I stuck the other mug in the MW and this time heated the water so the mixture would melt off the stirring spoon. This time everything looked pretty good so I waited for it to cool. After a bit I picked up on side and noticed it was too thick. :'(Ok, I had the first try back in a mug, so into the MW it went. Ah, it's like molding bullets with hot lead, don't let water drip in the lead. >:(When I squeezed this first batch and put it back in the mug there was water on it. I was hearing this popping noise. There was wax all over the inside of the MW. So in the small convection oven it went and I proceeded for about 10 minutes with a scrapper to clean the MW. This was yesterday and as I'm typing my bride of 51 years is kind a telling me about the mess on the door I missed. Anyway, this time I poured a little less mixture on the warm water and everything worked out to the good. Got out my .45 case with a nail going through it and punched out a bunch of pills. I shoot shotgun three times a week and there's three other guys with 1858's, two with Colts, and two with Rugers. We're gonna start a BP revolver league once a week soon as the weather breaks - should be fun and for me, a little cleaner and easier to load with my pills. Glad I found this web site. Everyday I go through the old threads and learn something new. Thanks to everyone. Paul

Glad to see that you persevered and got your method down. I usually mix my lube up first and put it in a pan of water, heat and let cool. If thickness is not to your liking, just add/subtract lube and re-melt. Pick the sheet of lube up and then punch the lube pills. We will be looking forward to your posts about your BP revolver league.

It's really very easy; throw the lube into a baking pan of water. Water temperature is no matter, so use cold from the tap, or whatever comes out. Place the whole thing in the oven at around 150 F until the lube is totally melted. Keep it comfortably below boiling temp, is the point. Once the lube is totally liquified, leave everything alone, undisturbed, turn off the heat, open the open door slightly and let it all cool in there undisturbed.

Getting in a hurry is where you run into problems.

Most people will say you should replace the paraffin and oil with mutton tallow, or such tallow as you have available. Mutton supposedly doesn't go rancid, and all I can say on that is, I've had some sitting at room temp for a couple of years or more and it's still good enough.

I mix up the lube in a large batch and set it aside for later use, then come time to make pills I weigh out the pre-mixed lube and toss it in the water, then bake as above. The scraps left over from punching pills go back into the pre-mix tub. I also use the pre-mix by melting it and pouring it into a lube-sizer's reservoir. It beats going to the unnecessary bother of molding the sticks with the holes in the middle-- Making the sticks is a neat trick and all but it's "molded" just fine inside the lube-sizer when you pour the lube in as a liquid.

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But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James 1:25 (KJV)

So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. James 2:12. (KJV)

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places". Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)

Muzzleloader.... I just use a lubed wad or greased patch. BPCR....card wad or just a wax paper disc under the lube. Lube is to keep the fouling soft. Conversion cylinders loaded with holy black....no wad under the cookie. If shooting smokeless, no cookie is used. That is the way I do mine anyway.